Now and Then
by M. Joseph Day
Summary: James and Carlos find an old photo album, causing them to remember the things in their childhoods that made them fall in love. Jarlos slash!
1. The Alone Boy

**The title of this fic is taken from the movie **_**Now and Then**_**. If you haven't seen it, it's basically about a group of life-long friends who reflect on their preteen days. It's one of my favorite movies. Anyways, this is sort of like that, but teenage James and Carlos reflect on their childhood days together. A lot of it is based on various things that have happened in my life that have made me the gay young man that I am today. So you know ahead of time, this will be a chapter story. Enjoy!**

"James! You won't believe what I just found!" exclaimed Carlos. He and James were looking through old boxes in the Garcia family's attic. They'd always wanted to do it, and now they finally were.

James pushed himself to his feet and hurried across the attic to where Carlos was standing. He was holding a big, red book with flowery decorations all over it. James looked over his short boyfriend's shoulder, smiling as Carlos opened up to the first page. Centered in the middle of the page was a picture of James and Carlos when they were six years old. James had been tall but chubby, and Carlos looked exactly the same as he did now. "Oh my gosh."

"I know," said Carlos quietly. He turned to the next page. The next two pages were filled with pictures of young James and Carlos. On the second page, they were joined by two other young boys, Kendall and Logan.

Carlos flipped back to the first page. "That was the day we met..."

_Sylvia Garcia couldn't get her son to let go of her leg. Six-year-old Carlos was screaming, "You can't make me go! You can't make me go!"_

_Sylvia let out a breath and crouched down so that she was eye-level with her only child. He looked away from her, crossing his arms and pouting. Sylvia rested a hand on his tiny shoulder. "Carlitos, I know you don't want to meet new people again, but Daddy got a very good job here. Can you try? For me?"_

_Carlos sighed dramatically. He uncrossed his arms. "Fine, but only if you stay the whoooole day."_

_"I can do that," said Sylvia, smiling. "All the mommies get to stay on the first day of your new school year. Now, let's go."_

_Sylvia straightened up again, grasping Carlos's small hand. She led him into the classroom, which was full of other small children and their mothers. One child in the corner, however, was alone. Carlos pointed at him. "If all the mommies get to stay, why is he alone?"_

_"Carlitos, don't point. It's rude," said Sylvia, gently pushing Carlos's arm down to his side. She glanced at the alone boy. "Sometimes, mijo, mommies are busy."_

_"Let's go ask him." Before his mother could stop him, Carlos ran over to the boy. He lightly tapped on the boy's shoulder. When the boy turned around, Carlos's mouth fell open. This boy was unlike any other boy Carlos had ever seen. He was almost as tan as Carlos, and his hazel eyes shone in the flourescent lighting of the classroom. He had rosy, full cheeks and perfect, almost too-white teeth. He was a little chubby, but it looked good on him. Carlos swallowed and found his words. "Where's your mommy?"_

_"Work," answered the boy shortly. "But it's okay. I'm used to it."_

_Sylvia made it across the room, smiling when she saw Carlos sit down across from the other little boy. Carlos sat Indian-style, just as he'd been taught in Kindergarten back in Florida. "Aren't you scared of being alone?"_

_"No," said the boy. "I like to be alone so I can imagine stuff."_

_Carlos's face fell. "I'll go away, then."_

_Carlos stood up and turned to walk back to his mother, but then James said, "You can imagine stuff with me."_

_Carlos returned to the spot he'd been sitting in before. "Okay, but what's your name?"_

_"James Diamond. You?"_

_"Ooh, diamonds. They're shiny. I'm Carlos Garcia."_

_James nodded. "So what do you wanna play?"_

_Carlos opened his mouth to answer, but Sylvia tapped his shoulder. The young boy turned to look at her. "Yeah?"_

_"Let me get a picture of you and your new friend," smiled Sylvia._

_Ever dramatic, Carlos threw back his head and groaned. A second later, though, he was smiling at James. "My mommy wants us to take a picture together."_

_"Okay," said James. He started moving his brown hair around randomly._

_Carlos giggled. "What are you doing?"_

_"I have to look good in the picture," answered James, as if Carlos should already know that._

_James stood up, and Carlos's mouth fell open when he saw that James was a few inches taller than him. Sylvia got ready, holding her Polaroid up to her eye. "Okay. Smile, boys."_

_"Hold on, mom." Carlos turned to look at James again. "James?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Are we friends?" asked the small Latino._

_James smiled. "Do you wanna be?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"Me too. Let's take the picture now."_

_"Okay."_

_Carlos and James turned so they were facing Sylvia again. They put on their best smiles, and then the flash went off. Carlos blinked a few times. He turned to look at James again. "Pirates. We should play pirates."_

_"I love playing pirates!"_

Back in the present, James put his arm around Carlos's waist. Both of them were smiling. Carlos laughed a little. "You were obsessed with looking good, even back then."

"And you were a sweetheart back then, too," said James. "If you hadn't asked me where my mom was, we probably wouldn't be standing here right now."

"I don't believe that." Carlos turned the page again. He looked back at his tall boyfriend. "I think we would have fallen in love eventually anyways."

James and Carlos kissed, their minds lost in the past.

**So, in this chapter, the italicized part was the flashback, but the next chapter is going to be completely flashback, so it's not going to be italicized like this one was. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Give feedback, if you so wish. :)**


	2. The Tire and the Swings

**I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. Here's the next one! Remember, it's completely a flashback.**

On the playground behind the school, there was a giant half-tire buried in the dirt. It was huge, big enough for two kids to sit in either side of it. It was where the cool kids hung out. Now, though, James and Carlos were sitting inside the tire, hiding from the world outside.

"This tire is the coolest!" James pulled on his gray t-shirt. It had been stuck in the tire. James was just a little bit too wide to completely fit in his side of the tire.

"I know! I want to live in here!" exclaimed Carlos, examining above his head, where the two sides of the giant tire met. He gasped and pointed upwards. "James, look!"

James looked up. Someone had stuck a bunch of brightly colored, shiny pencils in the top of the tire, leaving them there for keepsaking. James smiled brightly. "Wow. Those are awesome pencils."

Carlos reached up and grabbed one of the pencils. It was his favorite color; purple. He carefully examined it, grinning excitedly. He was about to put it back when someone stuck their head in the tire. The head was covered with dirty blonde hair, and the eyes were the greenest Carlos had ever seen. "Hey! What are you doing?! That's _my_ pencil!"

The boy grabbed the purple pencil from Carlos's hand and put it back where the smaller boy had found it. "What are you guys doing in here? You can't be here, because this isn't your spot. This is our spot!"

The boy kicked dirt into Carlos's face. Carlos quickly got out of the tire, helping his best friend James to his feet. Carlos crossed his arms. "Oh yeah? If this is your spot, where's your name?"

The blonde pointed to the side of the tire. "Right there! It says 'Kendall Knight and Logan Mitchell: Kings of the Tire' right there!"

Logan, who was apparently the shorter kid with dark hair behind Kendall, nodded. He looked like he was trying to scare off James and Carlos. It wasn't very convincing at all. Logan couldn't scare a chihuahua.

"But it can't be your tire because you didn't buy it!" argued James, placing his hand on top of the tire and taking a step closer to Kendall.

"Doesn't matter! I marked my tire tory!" yelled Kendall. He looked at Logan to help him.

"Actually, it's called 'territory', not 'tire tory', Kendall," said Logan quietly. Kendall made a face at him, and the boy kicked around in the dirt.

With nothing else to do to prove his point that this was his spot, Kendall kicked more dirt onto the two boys who were intruding on his turf. Carlos, who had gotten some dirt in his eye, started crying immediately. James consoled his friend while glaring at Kendall. "Why did you do that?! Kicking dirt on people is mean!"

Kendall looked sorry instantly. He put a hand on Carlos's shoulder, but the boy jerked it away. "Don't touch me! Jerk!"

"Look. I-I'm sorry," tried Kendall. He reached forward again, but James put up a hand, signaling for Kendall to back up.

James put his arms around Carlos in a hug. "Come on, Carlos. Let's go on the swings. We don't need this _stupid_ tire anyways!"

Carlos sniffled and nodded his head. He and James steered their way to the swings, which were all the way on the other side of the playground. They sat down on the two swings in the middle. Carlos wiped away his tears and then reached down and brushed dirt off his pant leg. "Why are people such jerks?"

"Not all people are jerks," said James defensively, wiping dirt off his own pantlegs. "Only stupid kids named Kendall and Logan are jerks. Who really says they're the kings of a tire?"

Carlos smiled. "I have a cool idea."

The Latino carefully slid off his swing and crouched down in the dirt. With a stray stick, he spelled his name. Though the 'S' was backwards, he had still marked his territory. Carlos smiled at his best friend and handed the stick out to him. James grasped the stick and wrote his own name in the dirt. "There. Now we marked our territory."

It was perfect timing, too, because Kendall and Logan approached the swings at that moment. James dramatically made a noise that was probably supposed to sound like him clearing his throat. Kendall looked over at him. "What?"

"This is our spot. We marked it and everything. Right here." James circled his and Carlos's names in the dirt. He looked up at Kendall again, the hint of a smile on his lips. "You have to go somewhere else. This is our territory."

"But-"

But James cut off Kendall by kicking dirt at him. Kendall angrily stopped away, Logan following right behind him. They went back to the tire, suddenly realizing that having the swings as a spot was so much more fun than having the tire.

James watched his new enemies and laughed. "That was a really good idea Carlos. I'm really happy we're best friends."

"Me too, James," said Carlos, smiling.

**Sorry it's a little short. The whole tire territory thing happened to me, but I was in the fourth grade, not the first grade. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry. Next chapter, Kendall and Logan will be friends with Carlos and James. You'll just have to wait and find out how. Reviews are more than welcome! :)**


	3. The Frog Prince

**Thanks for reviewing, faving, and following! This chapter is partly present and partly the past. Enjoy!**

James and Carlos laughed over their memory. James caught his breath. "Wow. It was just a tire. It's funny how little things like that were so important to us back then."

"And Kendall was so mean," said Carlos. "When did we become friends with them?"

"The sand pit. A few weeks after the tire thing," answered James.

_James and Carlos ran down the slight hill that the playground was set up on. They headed straight for the sand pit. Carlos sat down, not caring that he was getting his pants dirty. "I want to be the frog!"_

_"You can't be the frog," said James. "If you're the frog, that means I'm the princess. I don't wanna be the princess."_

_"But you have to be! I'm nothing like a princess!"_

_"I'm not either!" complained James._

_Carlos giggled. "Yeah you are. A little bit."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"I mean that you always gotta look perfect," replied Carlos. "You're sitting on the wall right now just so you don't have to get your butt dirty."_

_"No!" yelled James. He lowered his voice considerably. "I just don't wanna get these pants dirty."_

_Carlos didn't say anything else. He just giggled some more and shook his head. He looked up, his face falling as someone he did not want to see approached the sand pit._

_"Is this your spot, too?" asked Kendall, Logan trailing on his heels as usual._

_"No, but we can make it our spot," said James defensively._

_Logan sighed. "Can't we all just be friends?"_

_Carlos and James looked at each other, considerably. After a moment of silent deliberation, Carlos looked at Logan. "If Kendall doesn't kick dirt at us anymore, and if we can play at the tire, too."_

_"Fine," said Kendall, "but that means me and Logan can play on the swings with you guys."_

_"Sure," muttered Carlos._

_There was another moment of silence, and then Logan asked, "So, what are you guys playing?"_

_"Our teacher read _The Frog Prince_ to us in class, so we were gonna play that," said James. "We just can't figure out who's gonna be the frog and who's gonna be the princess."_

_"I told you you have to be the princess!" said Carlos._

_"No!" repeated James._

_"How about we make the princess a prince instead," suggested Kendall. "That way no one has to be a girl."_

_"That works!" James agreed. "Kendall, you should be the witch who changed Carlos into a frog, and Logan can be the king."_

_"Guys can't be witches," said Kendall._

_"Not true," protested Carlos. "There's boy witches on _Charmed_."_

_"I guess," said Kendall, sighing. "So what do I do?"_

_"Wave your wand," said Logan, in a duh voice._

_Kendall walked a few paces and picked up a short stick. He waved it in front of Carlos and stopped in front of his face, pointing the "wand" right at Carlos's nose. Carlos crouched down like a frog, ribbiting._

_James threw a rock a few feet away. Carlos hopped over to it, and James followed him. Carlos held the rock in his hand. "If you give me a kiss, I will give you your ball back."_

_James pretended to be afraid of the "talking frog", running back to Logan. "Father, a talking frog has my ball, and he says he won't give it back unless I kiss him."_

_"Don't be silly. Frogs don't talk," said Logan, changing his voice so he sounded royal and sophisticated._

_"But Father-"_

_"No," said Logan. He crossed his arms and turned away from James. "I won't believe it."_

_Carlos hopped over to Logan and looked up at him. "Please, sir. I need a kiss so that I can be human. I'm under a witch's spell."_

_"Fine. I'll allow it," said Logan, skipping the part where he freaks out that the frog can talk._

_"But Father, I don't want to kiss a frog!" said James loudly._

_Carlos hopped over to James and puckered his lips as big as they would go. James started giggling hysterically. "I'm sorry. Carlos, your face looks funny."_

_Carlos instantly transitioned from frog mode to human mode. He put his hands on his hips. "My face does _not_ look funny!"_

_"But it did two seconds ago!" laughed James._

_"Carlos, you're still a frog!" yelled Kendall._

_Carlos looked at Kendall and rolled his eyes, crouching down again. James cleared his throat and looked down at Carlos again. "I suppose I could kiss him and see if he changes into a handsome prince."_

_James crouched down in front of Carlos and pressed his lips to the corner of Carlos's mouth. Carlos fell backwards onto the ground. James laughed. "Are you okay, Carlos?"_

_Carlos put his head back on the sand, staring up at the sky. "Yeah. I'm good. I don't think I wanna play anymore. Let's look at the clouds."_

_Kendall and Logan looked at each other, having a silent conversation of their own. James just shrugged and laid down beside his best friend. Soon, Kendall and Logan joined them. For the rest of recess, the four boys were staring at the clouds and saying what they looked like._

In the present, Carlos smiled. "That was our first kiss."

"Technically," said James. "And I never realized it until now, but you 'fell' because you liked it. That's why you didn't want to finish playing, too, isn't it? You didn't want to marry the prince."

"Yeah, but we eventually _did_ get fake-married," said Carlos.

"Yeah," said James. He pointed to one of the pictures. It was the Polaroid Kendall's mother had taken of James and Carlos's "wedding".

Carlos and James kissed, thinking about the day they were fake-married.

**Sorry to cut it off like that, but I want the "wedding" to be a separate chapter. That's what the next chapter will be, so it will be completely flashback. No italics. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love reviews. Just sayin'. :)**


	4. The Wedding

It was the summer after the first grade, and Carlos was eating breakfast with his mother. He propped his elbows up on the table, resting his chin on his hands. "Mommy, how do I ask someone to marry me?"

Sylvia flipped the egg she was making for her husband. "Ooh, you like a girl, mijo? Who is it?"

"It's not a girl," said Carlos, taking a bite of his scrambled eggs. "It's James."

Sylvia dropped the spatula she was holding, and it clattered to the floor loudly. She picked it up and set it in the sink, turning off the burner underneath the now-finished egg. Sylvia crossed the room to stand beside her son. "Well, you crouch down on one knee with a ring, and you make a speech about how much you like him. Then you say, 'James, will you marry me?' I'm sure he'll say yes. No one would ever turn down a proposal from you, Carlitos. You're too precious."

Carlos's father entered the kitchen and clapped his hands together. "Mmm. I smell eggs."

"Guess what Dad?!" said Carlos. He jumped up and hugged his father's legs, grinning up at him. "I'm going to ask James to marry me!"

Carlos's father's mouth fell open, and he looked at Sylvia. She shrugged, so Sr. Garcia smiled down at his son. "Excellente, mijo."

The night after, Carlos, James, Kendall, and Logan were spending the night in Kendall's treehouse. Out of nowhere, Carlos crouched down on one knee and presented one of those tiny plastic containers you get from the machines in grocery stores. Inside was a tiny plastic ring painted gold. A plastic diamond sticker was stuck onto it. Carlos opened the container. "James Diamond, I thought you were pretty since I met you, and I really like spending time with you. Will you marry me?"

James looked at Kendall and Logan, then back at Carlos. He shrugged. "Yeah. I like spending time with you, too."

Carlos slid the finger onto James's index finger. Logan stepped forward, putting the ring on the correct finger. "Actually, it goes there."

"Oh. Right. Duh," said Carlos.

The next morning, the four boys ran into Kendall's house. Kendall looked up at his mother in the kitchen. "Mom, how do you do a wedding?"

"Who's getting married?" asked Jennifer Knight, turning to face her son and his friends.

James put up his hand. Carlos was grinning happily. "Me and James."

Jennifer smiled. She laid out all of the requirements of a wedding in words that the boys could understand. Logan, who was the best at writing, wrote everything down on a pad of paper. When Jennifer was done, she made breakfast for the boys and Kendall's three-year-old sister Katie.

An hour later, the boys were finding things to wear for the wedding. Kendall was going to be the minister, and Logan was going to walk James down the aisle. Jennifer and Katie were going to watch the wedding.

As James was being walked down the aisle, Jennifer hummed the wedding march. Little Katie joined in with her, though she hardly knew what was going on. Kendall cleared his throat, and Jennifer stopped. "We are gathered here today to wed James and Carlos."

"That's not how it goes," whispered Logan.

"I don't care," Kendall whispered back. "James and Carlos, read your vows."

Before the wedding had started, Logan had written down whatever James and Carlos had wanted to say to each other. Carlos pulled his out first. "James, you're really awesome, and you're my best friend, and you're really pretty. I like you a lot, and I never want you to go away."

James smiled. He pulled out his own piece of paper. "Carlos, you're short but you're cute like a puppy. I like being your best friend more than anything, and if we weren't friends anymore, I would die."

"The rings," said Kendall.

It turned out that Carlos had gotten two more rings from a machine before he asked James to marry him. The two boys exchanged the rings, putting them on the fingers that Logan told them to. Kendall started giggling. "You can kiss the bride. Or James."

"Shut up, jerk!" yelled James. His face flashed red instantly.

Carlos took a step forward and quickly met his lips to James's. James smiled, his face turning impossibly more red. Carlos's face did the same. Kendall smiled. "You're married!"

"Yay!" yelled Jennifer, clapping her hands. Little Katie clapped her hands, too, though it was impossible for her to know what was going on.

The "reception" was held in the Schmidt kitchen. Jennifer had bought cupcakes from the grocery store, and that's what the boys ate. Carlos held a cupcake in his hand. "Wait. I saw a picture of my mommy and daddy when they got married. They did this."

Carlos pushed his cupcake into James's mouth, getting icing up the side of his "husband's" face. James swallowed the bite of cupcake and then licked his lips. He smiled and pushed his cupcake into Carlos's mouth. The boys sat there laughing, wiping icing off their faces.

Carlos put his hands in his laps. "James, say we'll be married forever."

"We'll be married forever," smiled James.

**That's chapter four! I know it's short, but oh well. It was still cute! Review if you feel like it. :)**


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